Customer calls me up and says he got a radiator leak on a car he just purchased. We arrange and he brings it in . This is what I have to work with. 122000kms on the clock.





Removed the radiator ... shocked.





Radiator broke so the previous hack mechanic qbond it shut. Then tap a new valve and seal with with bathroom silicone, pratley steel and qbond. And expected it to hold pressure under operating temps.

I opted for a new radiator, took two weeks but it arrived and everything became clear.

Will post more as we progress.

Dafuq!?!?!?

Tjeeeeer

That Old Radiator has seen better days, pure abuse of such a gem of a car of low kilos.

How some people can do things like that is beyond me.

Sent from my SM-A305F using Tapatalk

Yeah guys, there’s people out there hacking away at customers cars.

I’ve got a lot of work planned for the z3:
1. Full engine service
2. Auto Gearbox service
3. Diff oil change
4. Full cooling system refresh: radiator, thermostat, updated aluminum thermostat housing, new waterpump, new water bottle and cap as well.
5. New Ac belt, tensioner, pulley.
6. New V belt , tensioner and pulley.
7. New Tappet cover gasket
8. Front seals on cyl head

There’s a lot of sludge build up in here so I have to run engine flush with new wolf 5w40 oil , then drain out as much of the sludge before Filling up with the LM molygen oil and Ceratec additive.

Z3 is out the workshop so it’s time to update :

Started collecting parts :





Began with a service










Then we started with the cooling system issues. Drained the radiator and the engine block of all the water they had filled when doing the shitty repairs .


And then started getting the radiator out



Had to cut this pipe as they stuck it on .





Called up Bmw and placed an order for a new radiator and that pipe which We cut.


Gearbox oil cooler mounted to the old radiator, will be swapped over to the new unit


These two seals had an oil sweat, while we were there we replaced them too





Then both the belts, tensioners and pulleys needed to be replaced, so those where ordered too.















We then fitted the radiator and the rest of the new components in the cooling system.

We noticed a lot of sludge build up when replacing the tappet cover so we decided to do an engine flush with cheap oil before filling up the more expensive liqui moly engine oil with the Ceratec additive .




Then we drained the old Geabox Fluid out .


Dropped the gearbox oil pan and the oil filter


Cleaned and prepped for the gasket.


New gasket


Installed the new filter and gasket and bolted up the oil pan then torqued to spec.


Filled up gearbox oil the old school way lol




Checked coolant and top up


Add Ceratec additive



Fill up with oil and a new oil filter


Also drained and filled new oil in the differential



New belts and tensioner


Vehicle completed and owner collected. He was Very happy guy after this since he now had confidence in his vehicle and wasn’t afraid to drive back to pta.

Quite a job there, thanks for the walk-through and pictures.